MORE TROOP SUPPORT

How do you tell people their son or daughter died because the money went to Halliburton instead?

Sergeant Valerio and others had to scrounge for metal scraps to strengthen the Humvees they inherited from the National Guard, which occupied Ramadi before the marines arrived. Among other problems, the armor the marines slapped together included heavier doors that could not be latched, so they "chicken winged it" by holding them shut with their arms as they traveled.

"We were sitting out in the open, an easy target for everybody," Cpl. Toby G. Winn of Centerville, Tex., said of the shortages. "We complained about it every day, to anybody we could. They told us they were listening, but we didn't see it."

The company leaders say it is impossible to know how many lives may have been saved through better protection, since the insurgents became adept at overcoming improved defenses with more powerful weapons. Likewise, Pentagon officials say they do not know how many of the more than 1,500 American troops who have died in the war had insufficient protective gear.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the same ground a few weeks ago:

Since May 1, 2003, when the United States declared an end to major combat operations, attacks on vehicles have accounted for as many as 40 percent of the 1,037 deaths of soldiers that have been attributed to hostile action, an analysis of Pentagon information shows.

Faster production and delivery of more armor might have saved lives. That conclusion is shared by soldiers, Pentagon analysts and even generals.

Military leaders have blamed everything from steel shortages to U.S. industrial decline.

But the shortage had more to do with Pentagon missteps than any lack of industrial capacity, according to a Knight Ridder Newspapers review of documents and interviews with officers, soldiers, analysts and industry officials.

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